Major Trade Routes and Their Impact on History

Trade Routes

Silk Roads

China to Europe and North Africa

  • Worked best under large empires with control over the entire route
    • Han China and Roman Empire in 200 CE
    • Mongols
  • Goods passed via Camel Caravan
    • Luxury Goods
      • Chinese Silk
  • Conduit of Culture
    • Buddhism
      • Merchants
        • Spread and changed
          • Outwards – more materialistic
          • Inwards – Mahayana Buddhism
            • Buddha became a deity
              • Zoroastrian Fire Rituals
  • Diseases
    • “Black Death” Bubonic Plague
      • ½ of European Population died between 1346 and 1348
        • Similar in China and Islamic World

Indian Ocean Trade Routes

China to East Africa

  • Common and Luxury Goods
    • Ships could carry more items for less cost
    • Luxury:
      • Chinese Porcelain
      • Southeast Asian Spices
      • Cotton and Pepper from India
      • Ivory/Gold from East Africa
    • Common:
      • Wheat
      • Sugar
      • Rice
  • Monsoons
    • Summer Winds Northeast
    • Winter Winds Southwest
  • Led to inventions
    • Magnetic Compass – Bearings
    • Astrolabe – Latitude
    • Chinese Junks – Big Ships
  • Growth
    • Chinese Economic Revival
    • Rise of Islam
      • Added to merchant activity
  • Culture
    • Srivijaya Kingdom
      • Southeast Asia
        • Straits of Malacca
    • Swahili Civilization
      • African merchant class
      • Swahili “city-”states
      • Islam

Trans-Saharan Routes

North and West Africa and Mediterranean with Interior of Africa

  • North
    • Manufactured Goods
      • Cloth
      • Glasswork
      • Books
  • Southwest
    • Agricultural
      • Grain crops
      • Yams
      • Kola nuts
  • Arabian Camels allowed travel
  • Culture
    • Mali Empire
      • Horse and Metal monopoly
      • Salt/copper taxes
      • Social hierarchy
        • Royalty > Elite > Merchant > Military/Religious > Peasants > Slaves

Consequences of Trade

Cultural

  • Religion and Linguistics
    • Took Hold/Unified
    • Syncretized
      • Buddhist + Daoism
        • Zen Buddhism
      • Neoconfucianism
    • Islam
      • Merchants
      • Birth of Swahili
        • Bantu + Arabic
  • Science + Technology
    • Egypt
      • Medical Advancements
    • Ships
      • Lateen Sail
      • Stern Post Rudder
  • Growth of Cities
    • Hangzhou
      • Increased due to trade
      • Poetry and Literature increased
  • Travelers
    • Marco Polo
      • Venice to China
      • Kublai Khan
        • Ambassador
      • Captured and told stories
    • Ibn Battuta
      • Dar Al-Islam
        • India, Persia, Mali, etc.
      • Kept a Journal

Environmental

  • Agriculture
    • Champa Rice
      • Vietnam to China
      • Terrace Farming
    • Bananas
      • Indonesia to Sub-Saharan Africa
      • Allowed people to move into other regions
    • Pressure on land 
      • Overgrazing – Zimbabwe
        • City was abandoned
      • Deforestation – Europe
      • Ice Age → 1300s
  • Disease
    • “Black Death” Bubonic Plague
      • Fleas and Bacteria
      • Brought by Mongols
      • Trade Routes
        • Land/ships
          • Caravanserai
      • Took 50% of Europe’s population
      • More power to workers

Mongols

13th Century

  • Small Cultural Footprint
  • Genghis Khan
    • Incorporated enemies instead of killing
  • Expansion
    • Attacked all populations
    • No blueprints, just kept conquering
    • Units
      • 10,000 → 1,000 → 100 → 10
      • Growing and Loyal due to fear
        • If one person left, whole unit was killed
    • Tolerated Religions
    • China:
      • 70 years to conquer (1209-1279)
      • Mongols helped Southern China
      • Mandate of Heaven
      • Yuan Dynasty
        • Only 100 years before overthrown
    • Persia
      • Short and Easy conquer
      • Pillaged and slaughtered
      • 1258 – Took Baghdad
        • Over 200,000 killed
      • Influenced by Persia
        • Took ruling in use
        • Islam
        • Assimilated to Persian culture until Mongols became Persians